Abundance is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit (apples, pears, plums, quinces, cherries...). Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked. Abundance is a team of volunteers who have been harvesting city fruit, distributing it, making jams & preserves, or selling the surplus to local restaurants and shops on a non-profit basis, ie. the money goes back into the project or to local charitable organisations.
Throughout autumn 2011 Abundance London picked over a tonne and a half of fruit that would have gone to waste, we organised at least 7 picking outings per week through September alone for local schools and volunteers. Little teams from Belmont, Cavendish, Grove Park, St Peters, Strand-on-the-Green and William Hogarth Schools trotted off to local gardens to help people with their over-flowing trees. We had brilliant comments from the kids about what fun it was, and how they now knew how to pick fruit, and from tree owners about how nice the kids were and how happy they were that the fruit was going to a good place. For us it was not only a mind-blowing logistical enterprise, matching trees, with kids, with catchment areas, with school and work timetables, with equipment logistics... but also quite a physically strenuous month.
If you want to see a summary of what weights and varieties came from which streets, check out our proud table here
The Abundance Fruit Festival of 1st October already seems like a long time ago - in those halcyon last hot days of the summer... Our big fruit press worked its way through a huge pile of apples, aided by many passersby, local children and even councillors. Steve Oram from PTES identified lots of mysterious misshapen fruits from people's gardens, Mary Macleod MP pedalled her own smoothie, longest peels were peeled, the school stalls attracted loyal followings, Sam's Brasserie demonstrated marvellous tasty things, Outsider Tart provided delicious cakes, Waterstone's supported us with a fruity selection of children's stories, local honey jars flew off into Chiswick homes.
Throughout the area, people were busy making chutneys, cakes, jams and - especially - quince cheese. If you want to read more about the Great Quince Saga, click
here
but please be aware it contains adult language!
We made a profit on the Abundance Fruit Festival, so we have now paid off our fruit press, scratter (that macerates the apples before juicing), apple pickers, bike trailer, jars, bottles and all the other equipment we have needed (phew!). We also have a small reserve fund now, which we will be using to support environmental projects in the area, especially in the participating schools. We'll keep you posted, and if you have suggestions, please let us know.
Pop-up pressing on the High Road, Sept 2011
April 2011: A very successful grafting workshop was held in Ravenscourt Park greenhouses. Everyone learnt how to create rare varieties of apple tree, including Patte de Loup, Hounslow Wonder and many more... We also organised two pruning workshops on Dukes Meadows to learn how to look after fruit orchards.
January 2011: Over 300 people came wassailing at the Kitchen Garden.
Winter 2010/11: We planted mini-orchards in Belmont, Strand-on-the-Green and Wellington Schools. In December 2010: Abundance London and Belmont School won the Malcolm Gibbins Cup from the Hounslow Chamber of Commerce, an award celebrating the partnership between education and business.
The first Abundance Fruit Day in October 2010 was a culmination of our first full picking season, when schools, grocers, restaurants and local residents came together in celebration.
If you have a fruit tree and want help with harvesting please contact us – you will get the first share. And if you are interested in becoming an urban harvester or want to help with picking, distribution or processing please get in touch. Email us on info@abundancelondon.com.
Winner of the Observer Ethical Awards for Best Grassroots Project
For more information, to sign up to our mailing list, to report a new fruit tree, or to get involved with picking, jamming or in any other way, please email us:
This video from the Local Fruit Harvesters (Kensal to Kilburn) shows a fairly typical fruit pick. (With thanks to Jonathan Goldberg and Michael Stuart).
Other Abundance groups:
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